Apple ready to invest $1 billion in jobs fund
SAN FRANCISCO Apple CEO Tim Cook says his company will invest $1 billion in a U.S. manufacturing fund to boost American jobs, the latest Silicon Valley company to attempt to build bridges to the new administration by responding to President Trump’s call to put America first.
Trump criticized Apple during the presidential election for manufacturing the iPhone and other products overseas. Amazon pledged to create 100,000 U.S. jobs over the next two years. Intel said it would invest $7 billion in an Arizona chip-making plant.
Cook told CNBC in an interview Wednesday that the new fund’s first investment would be in a U.S. venture later this month. He did not name the venture.
“By doing that, we can be the ripple in the pond. Because if we can create many manufacturing jobs around, those manufacturing jobs create more jobs around them because you have a service industry that builds up around them,” Cook said.
The investment would be the first of several to come from Apple this year, which include increasing the size of Apple’s U.S. employee base by thousands and propelling the creation of more mobile apps by teaching people to code, Cook said.
Earlier this year, Apple said it was investing $1 billion in the SoftBank Vision Fund, a new fund that will work on developing new, strategically important, technologies.
“I think with each administration in every country in the world, there are things you disagree and things you agree, and you look to find common ground and try to influence the things you don’t,” he said. “If you don’t show up, I think that’s the worst scenario because then you’re quiet, and this doesn’t do your cause any good or your point of view any good.”
During the interview with CNBC, Cook also urged the Trump administration to hand tax breaks to companies that repatriate cash from overseas. Apple currently has $239 billion overseas.